Miami Dolphins: Tony Sparano At The Senior Bowl

January 26, 2010|Posted by Mike Berardino on January 26, 2010 09:06 AM

Bill Parcells is not here in Mobile and isn't expected to stop in all week at the Senior Bowl.

This is a little surprising to me since Parcells did make the trip up to Orlando to watch East-West Shrine Game practices last week, but the Dolphins video staff is taping as close to every movement of every player as possible for him to watch back in Davie. (They'd better take a wide angle of Alabama nose tackle Terrence "Mount" Cody, who came in at 370 pounds and is, indeed, huge.)

Still, that's not the same as walking up to one of these draft candidates on the field and, in that patented Parcells way, saying something to get a rise out of the kid. Or saying something cryptic and seeing how the kid responds.

Not that any of these players is going to get angry or go stomping off the field. These kids are on their best behavior with the eyes of the football scouting world trained so closely on them.

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano told me last night he wouldn't hesitate to call a specific play or run a specific defensive set with his South team on Saturday just to see how a particular player or group of players responds.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Why not?" Sparano said. "Put them in in some of those positions, a few guys. I think that?s helpful. That?s the advantage that we have. We?re coaching in the ballgame and Detroit?s coaching in the ballgame, so the advantage that we have is if we have a question out there from a personnel standpoint, we can try to fit them into that situation one way or the other."

I also found it interesting that Sparano refused to confirm or deny a report on Ethan Skolnick's blog here at SunSentinel.com that had multiple sources saying veteran linebackers Joey Porter and Jason Taylor clashed late in the season over Porter?s refusal to come off the field on some third downs.

?I can?t say yea or nay,? Sparano said after a pause.

So how was the relationship between the sport's two leading active sack masters near the end of the year?

?I thought Joey and Jason?s relationship, honestly, was very good," he said. "I really do. I think they work very well together as captains and I think they work very well with our younger players.?

Anybody else find it interesting he started that comment in the past tense before quickly switching to the present? Taylor is a free agent while Porter is due a seven-figure roster bonus on in early March and could be cut.

Check back here throughout the week for frequent updates on the Senior Bowl and the Dolphins' involvement in it.